Virginia set to execute man convicted in family's slaying

This undated photo provided by the Virginia Department of Corrections shows convicted murderer Ricky Gray who is scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening, Jan. 18, 2017, at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va. Gray is scheduled to be put to death for the murders of 9-year-old Stella Harvey and 4-year-old sister, Ruby, as well as their parents Bryan and Kathryn Harvey in 2006. (Virginia Department of Corrections via AP) (The Associated Press)

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Death penalty opponents hold a candlelight vigil outside the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017. Ricky Gray was sentenced to death in 2006 for the murders of 9-year-old Stella Harvey and 4-year-old sister Ruby, and to life in prison for the slayings of their parents, Bryan and Kathryn Harvey.(AP Photo/Steve Helber) (The Associated Press)

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Virginia Department of Corrections spokesperson, Lisa Kinney, at podium, announces the execution of Ricky Gray at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017. Gray who was convicted of killing a couple and their two young daughters in their Virginia home on New Year's Day 2006 was put to death Wednesday. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (The Associated Press)

RICHMOND, Va. – A man convicted of brutally killing a couple and their young daughters in their Virginia home on New Year's Day 2006 is scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening.

Virginia is planning to give 39-year-old Ricky Gray a lethal injection at 9 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes.

Gray was condemned to death in 2006 for the murders of 9-year-old Stella Harvey and 4-year-old sister Ruby, and sentenced to life in prison for the slaying of their parents, Bryan and Kathryn Harvey.

The family was getting ready to host friends for a chili dinner when Gray and his nephew, Ray Dandridge, were looking for a home to rob and spotted their open front door. Court records show the men tied up the family in the basement and Gray slashed their throats and bashed their heads with a hammer before setting their home on fire and fleeing with a computer, a wedding ring and a basket of cookies.

The well-known family's slaying rocked Virginia's capital city and was followed by the killing of another Richmond family less than a week later. Kathryn Harvey was co-owner of a popular Richmond toy store, the World of Mirth, and Bryan Harvey was a guitarist and singer for a rock duo, House of Freaks.

Gray also confessed to participating in the slaying of 21-year-old Ashley Baskerville, her mother Mary Baskerville-Tucker and stepfather Percyell Tucker days after the Harvey deaths, but wasn't tried in that case. Gray and Dandridge said Ashley Baskerville had served as a lookout for them during the Harvey slayings.

Dandridge pleaded guilty to the Tucker-Baskerville slayings and is serving a life sentence.

Virginia is planning to use midazolam and potassium chloride from a compounding pharmacy whose identity is secret under a new state law. Virginia would be the first state to use compounded midazolam or compounded potassium chloride, according to Gray's attorneys.

Gray's attorneys have challenged the state's lethal injection plan, saying that even a firing squad would be more humane. Midazolam has come under fire after several problematic executions in other states, with critics arguing that it causes inmates to suffer a painful death because it cannot reliably render them unconscious.

Gray's attorneys want the U.S. Supreme Court to put his execution on hold so he can pursue his lethal injection challenge, but Virginia's attorney general is urging the justices to let the execution proceed.

Gray's lawyers had also asked Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to spare his life, saying his actions were the result of drug use aimed at numbing years of sexual abuse by his older brother when he was a child. Gray says he was high on PCP at the time of the Harvey slayings and doesn't remember much.

McAuliffe said he found no reason to intervene, adding he believes Gray received a fair and impartial trial.

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Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer .